Chunches [Mololon tak Nakun] A “thingy” is understood as any object or thing, which has no dictionary definition. In the Mayan Tz’utujiil language, any object, thing or “whatever” is called ropo’y or tac sto’y. This is one of the most widely-spoken Mayan languages in Guatemala, present in two provinces: Solola and Suchitepequez. There are two known dialects, which are very distinct: Eastern Tzutujil, spoken in Santiago Atitlan; and Western Tzutujil, spoken in San Pedro la Laguna, San Juan la Laguna, Santa Maria Visitacion, San Pablo Laguna, San Lucas Toliman and Cerro de Oro, in the province of Solola; and Chicacao and San Miguel Panam, including their towns, counties and plantations, in the province of Suchitepéquez.1 “Chunches [Mololon tak Nakun]” was thus adopted as the title of this exhibition that is presented as a review of the work of Guatemalan artist Benvenuto Chavajay, aiming to further explore his key areas of research. In the words of the artist himself: “Over the past few years I have been working and reflecting on objects/stuff drawn from the collective memory; senseless objects discarded in any given place -in a corner of the house, on a grey pavement, along the roadside, at the playground –or things we eat or wear on a daily basis. The role of the artist is to acknowledge this “stuff” and reinterpret it through a process of sacred aesthetic transfiguration”. Chavajay creates work based on this “stuff” in a variety of media including photography, intervened objects and installation, developing a discourse that is becoming increasingly broader in scope but that is based on reaffirming the identity of the Mayan indigenous culture, from a village on the shores of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, as in the case of San Pedro la Laguna. Concepts such as modernity/coloniality are addressed from a decolonial perspective that seeks confrontation with and detachment from the “colonial power matrix” according to Quijano2 or, as the artist himself describes it “healing the colonial wound” through art from the American heartland.3 Some of the works found in the sample, is action by the artists in order to vindicate his tongue, as presented in the work on Guamuche Doroteo Flores (1922-2011) who was the winner Guatemalan indigenous Boston Marathon in 1952 in the United States. At that time, a journalist could not pronounce his name and simplified typing “Mateo Flores” in the press releease as well, his name remained wrongly until the date of his death. It was also the name used to rename the national stadium after called “The Revolution”. The work consisted tattooed on the back of the card Guamuche Doroteo Flores, where his real name is. With this gesture, a project also intends to propose to the authorities to rename the stadium “Mateo Flores” a “Doroteo Guamuche” as a gesture to heal a wound from the people who have been silenced and excluded begins. This line is also a performance that was to be tattooed his name in Mayan “Ch’ab’aq Jay” which was simplified to Spanish as “Chavajay” unable to be ruled by others. Tattooing “Ch’ab’aq” (mud) and “Jay” (house), is a way to recognize and return. According to the artist Maya thought last is forward rather than backward. With this piece the language tz’utujil claimed and reaffirms that “the past is carried forward.” On the other hand, the artist’s works are based on close ties with materials and forms that make reference to his place of origin and family heritage. This is the case with “Yooq’”, a piece which the artist himself describes as: The tortillas made of fired clay use the earth like dust; to knead the clay with water and my hands is to recall my mother’s resistance to tears, and for me it symbolizes the distancing from the thought patterns of the modern Western world. 1 Garcia Tesoro, Ana Isabel, “Spanish in contact with Tz’utujil in Guatemala: Changes in the 3rd Person Pronominal Form”, 2010. 2 Aníbal Quijano is a Peruvian sociologist and political theorist. 3 Book by the Argentinian anthropologist and philosopher Rodolfo Kusch.
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